KRASNODAR. May 19 (Interfax) - Transport police officers have arrested an 18-year-old Krasnodar resident on suspicion of an attempt to set fire to a relay box beside the tracks on the Agronom-Dinskaya stretch of line in the Krasnodar Territory, the Russian Interior Ministry's Department for Transport in the Southern Federal District said on Friday.
"The Department's criminal investigation officers, jointly with Krasnodar FSB [Federal Security Service] colleagues, have arrested a resident of the city of Krasnodar [believed to have been] involved in the attempted arson of a relay box on the Agronom-Dinskaya stretch of line," the statement said.
The damage to the relay box, a piece of equipment intended for automatic blocking of a system for interval regulation of traffic lights, was reported by North Caucasus Railway staff, the press service said.
"On arrival, the team of investigators established that an instance of unauthorized intervention occurred, i.e. an attempt was made to set the relay box on fire, having found matches, pieces of charred paper and traces of liquid," it said.
Rail services were unaffected by the incident because the equipment inside remained intact, the press service said.
The suspect has been charged with intentional destruction of or damage to property and remanded in custody.
The case files will now be sent to the regional FSB branch to consider whether the charge should be reclassified as sabotage, the press service added.